Italian Sausage Roll
Hello, readers, today I will be re-creating a MasterChef dish that seemed to impress Gordon Ramsay more than anything, it is an Italian spin on an English sausage roll.
This dish was featured during auditions for Season 2 of MasterChef (2011) when a home cook named Dustin comes in and presents what he calls an English sausage roll with an Italian twist, a dish that Chef Ramsay devoured.
For those of us who live outside of England, a sausage roll is similar to what we Americans know as ‘pigs in a blanket’, but rather than it being a hot dog wrapped in puff pastry, it’s replaced with banger sausages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm4YHZ44TVU
You can use the link above to check out the full clip, but the summary is that Dustin’s dish featured spicy Italian sausage wrapped in puff pastry, served with a creamy marinara sauce, peppers and onions, and even a basil pesto.
This was such a hit that Chef Ramsay ate the entire plate Dustin presented before fellow judges Graham Elliot and Joe Bastianich could even have a bite, claiming that the dish was, in full GR terms, “F*ing delicious.”, and leading to one of the funniest Gordon Ramsay clips of all time.
That dish ended up scoring Dustin his MasterChef white apron and securing his spot in the competition. He didn’t make it very far into the competition itself, but I can guarantee that Chef Ramsay is still thinking about that Italian sausage roll to this day.
Today, I am going to re-create this dish and see what all the commotion is about!
Before I even think about cooking anything, I will begin by thawing a sheet of frozen puff pastry.
If I had the time and baking skills, I suppose I could’ve attempted to make puff pastry from scratch, a process that involves rolling and folding a sheet of butter into a yeasted dough to create hundreds of layers, then chilling the dough in between each roll and fold to keep the butter from melting.
This process takes hours to complete, so I say that frozen puff pastry is just as good and is incredibly convenient.
To thaw, all you need to do is wrap the pastry in a damp kitchen towel and leave it at room temperature.
It should take about an hour to thaw with this method, but if you’re short on time, then you can wrap the pastry in damp paper towels and microwave at 15-second intervals on half power until the dough is thawed enough to be folded without tearing or breaking.
It is then time to roll my sausage. I’m using hot Italian sausage links for this, but you can use mild or sweet sausage if you want.
I unfold my thawed but puff pastry sheet and lay my sausage on one side.
I wanted to make sure that one end of the sausage was pressed against one edge of the dough as I don’t want to completely wrap the sausage.
I then wrap the pastry around the sausage as tight as I can, using an egg wash to seal the edges and using a knife to trim off the excess pastry.
An egg wash is made by beating one whole egg with a tablespoon of water, it’s commonly used as a glue for pastries, breading, and ravioli as the sticky egg proteins make the dough sticky enough to adhere to itself.
I then lay the roll seam-side down onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and place the tray into the fridge for at least half an hour to allow the butter in the puff pastry to re-solidify to ensure a flaky pastry once it’s baked.
While the roll is chilling, I’m going to work on that creamy marinara sauce that’ll sit on the bottom of the plate that I can drag my sausage roll through.
I’m making it now because tomato-based sauces need a fair amount of time to cook as I’m trying to cook out any acidity and concentrate the natural sweetness of the tomatoes.
To make this marinara, I started by heating a few minced garlic cloves and a pinch of chili flakes in a medium pot.
You can use as many or as few chili flakes as you wish, but since I’m using hot Italian sausage, I’m going to hold back on the spice in the sauce.
Also, don’t worry if you happen to brown your garlic a little, I find that that enhances the flavor of the sauce even more. Completely burnt is a no-go, but a little browning is fine.
Once the garlic was sizzling and fragrant, I then added some canned crushed tomatoes.
I have 0 issues with using canned tomatoes for sauces like this because canned tomatoes are convenient, shelf-stable, and great for the winter months when tomatoes aren’t in season.
Plus, depending on what kind of tomatoes you get, most tomatoes are picked and canned at the peak of ripeness to ensure that they become sweet and delicious.
Quick tip: After dumping the tomatoes into the pot, put a little bit of water into the can, swirl that around, and put that into the sauce. That way, you use up every little bit of tomatoes in that can, which can save you money.
I also like to add a pinch of sugar to the sauce at this stage as that will enhance the sweetness of the tomatoes and cut the cooking time in half. Some sauces like this will cook for about an hour or two, this one will only cook for half of that time.
I’ll bring the mixture to a boil, then let it simmer for at least 30 minutes, again to cook out any acidity that canned tomatoes pick up.
When the sauce is ready, I’ll add in enough heavy cream to give me a bright color and creamy texture, season with salt and pepper, and a good handful of chopped basil. It’s important to add the cream at the end of cooking as to prevent the cream from curdling from the acidity of the tomatoes.
I’ll cover the sauce and keep it warm over low heat while I work on the other components of the dish.
While the sauce cooks, I’ll get to baking my sausage roll.
I’ll heat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 C) before brushing the outside of the pastry with more of that egg wash, doing this will help the pastry achieve a golden, crispy outside. I then sprinkle the pastry with salt for an even crispier exterior.
I then bake my roll for 25 minutes, or until the pastry was golden and the sausage reaches a minimum internal temperature of 160 degrees F/71 degrees C. It’s best to let the sausage roll rest for at least 5 minutes after baking.
While the sausage roll was baking, I then move on to some sauteed onions and peppers that will sit underneath my sausage roll on the plate and prevent the bottom of the pastry from getting soggy from my sauce.
This will also drive home that classic sausage and pepper sandwich vibe.
Pretty easy process here, I slice up one large onion, one large red bell pepper, and one large green bell pepper into thin slices.
I’ll then heat some olive oil in a large skillet, add in the onions and peppers along with a touch of seasoning and let that go over medium heat until the veggies had softened and were slightly browned. Think of the peppers you get with fajitas.
Ideally I should’ve used a larger pan for this but….live and learn.
Quite a simple step if you ask me.
While the roll and veggies were cooking, I then move on to the final component of the dish, that being a simple basil pesto. I’ve made enough pesto that it’s now running through my veins, but I was excited to get it going.
Since it’s a small amount of pesto, I’ll be making it in a mortar and pestle, but you can use a food processor if you want.
I start by bashing a garlic clove with some pine nuts to form a loose paste. You could toast the pine nuts, but I find that the oils in the raw nuts help achieve a creamy consistency.
I then add a generous amount of fresh basil. Mortar and pestles don’t really chop ingredients so much as they crush them, so I did roughly chop the basil before putting it in.
I smash the basil with the garlic and pine nuts until crushed before adding enough olive oil to form a loose paste. You do need to be careful as adding too much oil can cause the pesto to split.
I then season the pesto with salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and a generous amount of grated parmesan cheese.
And that’s my pesto! Simple, easy, and delicious, just like most of Italian cooking.
Once everything was ready to go, it was time to plate.
I start by spooning a layer of my creamy marinara onto the bottom of my plate, followed by a mound of the peppers and onions, and laying the sausage roll on top.
I then garnish the dish with some chopped parsley, grated parmesan, and a few dots of my pesto around the edges of the marinara.
One taste of this, and it is very clear to me why Ramsay loved it so much! The slightly sweet, creamy marinara, the tang of the peppers, and the crisp-flakiness of the pastry, are all lifted by that nutty, peppery pesto!
And if you want to try out this MasterChef-worthy dish at home, then here’s how you can do it!
Italian Sausage Roll
Servings: 4
For the sausage roll:
2 sheets of frozen puff pastry, thawed See note
4 spicy or sweet Italian sausage links
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon of water
Salt
For the creamy marinara sauce:
Olive oil
8 cloves of garlic, minced
red pepper flakes, to taste
2 15-ounce cans of crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons of sugar
Salt and pepper
X amount of heavy cream
1/3 cup of chopped fresh basil leaves
For the onions and peppers:
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 large green bell pepper, thinly sliced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
For the Basil Pesto:
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1 bunch of fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
1/2-1 cup of olive oil
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
For garnish
Grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
Unfold the thawed puff pastry sheets, then place the sausage links on each end, making sure the edge of the sausage is right against one edge of the pastry.
Tightly roll the puff pastry over the sausages, brushing the beaten egg down the center to seal, until the sausages are fully wrapped in pastry. Use a paring knife to trim off the excess pastry.
Lay each roll onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, seam-side down, and refrigerate for at least half an hour.
Heat the oven to 400 degrees F, then make the marinara. Heat some olive oil with the garlic and a pinch of chili flakes in a medium saucepan until the garlic is sizzling and fragrant.
Add the crushed tomatoes, the sugar, and a bit of salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a simmer, cover it, then cook for 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Add the cream and basil, season to taste, then set aside.
Brush the outside of the pastry with the egg wash, sprinkle with salt, then bake for 25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the sausages reach a minimum internal temperature of 160 degrees F (71 C). Let the rolls rest for about 5 minutes after baking.
Cook the onions and peppers. Heat some olive oil in a large nonstick pan over medium heat, then add the sliced onion and both bell peppers. Season with salt and pepper, then cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the veggies were lightly browned and started to soften.
While the veggies cook, make the pesto. Blend up the garlic and pine nuts in a mortar and pestle until smashed. (You can also do this in a food processor)
Add the basil and bash again until finely ground. Slowly drizzle enough olive oil to get the consistency of a loose paste. Add the lemon juice, parmesan, and season with salt and pepper, then set aside.
Put a layer of the marinara onto plates, top with a mound of onions and peppers, and one of the rolls, and garnish with parsley and more parmesan.
Godere!
Note: To thaw puff pastry, wrap the dough sheets in a damp kitchen towel and let it sit at room temperature for at least an hour. If you’re short on time, then wrap the dough in damp paper towels then microwave for 15-second intervals at half power until the pastry can unfold without breaking.
